Report: What Danny Ings has been doing behind the scenes to turn his situation around at West Ham

09/16/2024 07:15 AM

Danny Ings was the hero for West Ham on Saturday after netting a late equaliser.

The England international popped up in the 95th minute to secure a point for the Hammers, as Julen Lopetegui watched his side draw 1-1 at Craven Cottage.

It has been far from a successful stint at West Ham for Danny Ings following his £15m move from Aston Villa in January 2023 – scoring just five goals in 54 appearances – but the striker has been working hard to improve his fortunes…

Danny Ings takes responsibility for poor goalscoring return at West Ham

A story from The Athletic now shares what the 32-year-old has been doing behind the scenes.

It is said that Ings embarked on a training camp in Ibiza before pre-season at Rush Green officially began, aiming to give himself a head start before the 2024/25 campaign and ensure he is in a condition to be of use to Lopetegui this season.

The West Ham No.18 has only been given 13 minutes of Premier League action to prove himself this season despite his hard work over the summer, but admirably took full advantage of his eight minutes against Fulham, after playing five minutes of the 2-1 loss against Aston Villa.

Interestingly, The Athletic add that Ings, who West Ham wanted to sell in the summer, scored a hat-trick in a friendly against Dagenham & Redbridge during the international break.

Clearly, the man from Winchester is motivated to become a key man at West Ham this season, despite a very slow start to life in east London.

Julen Lopetegui will be kicking himself regardless

While we hope Ings can return to his form of old – which saw him score 22 Premier League goals for Southampton in the 2019/20 campaign – Lopetegui will surely regret not pushing harder to sign Jhon Duran from Aston Villa during the summer.

As was well documented, West Ham made several bids for Duran – up to £35m – but decided against meeting the £40m asking price, despite the Colombia international wanting to join.

As things stand, the South American is the talk of the Premier League after scoring three goals in four appearances so far this season, all of which have been winning strikes from the bench.

Duran – who is only 20 – now looks set to become a big name in English football, so we highly doubt Aston Villa would still entertain a £40m sale.